I will be completing my practicum in the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at the US Naval Hospital Okinawa (USNHO) located in Okinawa, Japan.

I will be participating in many day to day public health activities in the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic as well as participating in various cohort class activities as well as data measurements, data collection and data analysis. My focus will be on public health nutrition looking at a person as a whole not just from a nutritional standpoint. The clinic is heavily focused on nutrition but it also is looking at the person as a whole and addressing their activity, behaviors, conditions, diet, energy and sleep (ABCDE’S).

The Changing Course Program is a high intensity weight management program designed around lifestyle change to prevent or curb chronic diseases.

It is a one year program that provides individual appointments and group classes to support healthy, sustained change. This program is based on the CDC’s National Diabetic Prevention Program.  Participants learn about healthier eating and increasing their physical activity via group classes, Individual appointments and follow-ups with a multi-disciplinary team of experts help to ensure success (I am proud to say I am part of this team). The team includes physicians, wellness specialists, myself acting as a nutrition consultant (certified), exercise physiologist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Certified Health Coaches. The program begins with 12 weekly sessions, then 12 biweekly sessions, and lastly 6 monthly sessions focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

So far this summer I have had the opportunity to collect biometric data and analyze it, develop content and teach four different courses each week to the various cohorts.  I have provided a list of some of the courses and details about them as well as other projects associated with the program I am participating in and will participate in when the program is complete.

Courses I am fortunate enough to develop content for and to teach: each course is 60 minutes long and consist of a participant packet, action plan, discussion and an activity geared towards the topic.

• Shop & Cook
• Eat Well Away From Home
• More about Carbs
• Have Healthy Food You Enjoy

Projects I am fortunate to be part of:

• Virtual Grocery Store Tour
  • This is a program I created from scratch that is introduced during the Shop & Cook week and participants have access to 24/7. This program is a virtual grocery store tour that is site specific to the base and is comprised of a mini series of episodes related to various topics about healthy shopping and cooking.
• Blue H Program
  • This program is basically a base wide on site inspection! I get to play the role of an inspector and visit various sites on bases to determine if there are healthy options, how healthy they are and to what extent healthy options are or are not offered from convince stores to dining facilities to restaurants to grocery stores and even vendors and food trucks. The sites are monitored all year on a monthly basis but this is basically a double check to determine accuracy and validity.
• Social Media Reform
  • The department has four social media platforms (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter) that they update but it is in need of serious attention and organization moving forward so  I have been busy researching and organizing content and developed a schedule to life the burden off of busy people and spread it out so that it is more realistic to accomplish without months of silence as they currently experience.
• Website
  • I am working with IT to develop a blueprint for a future website as currently there is not one and there is only a small blurb on the hospital main site and the public health department site. I think this is going to be super beneficial for participants to get information, contact us more easily and network as there is not any easy to access structured virtual content currently aside from a phone number and a terrible long and complex email printed on the literature given to participants- it is currently pretty low tech.
• 1:1 appointments
  • I am available to meet with participants 1:1 to discuss tips, tricks and nutrition hacks to enhance their lives and to discuss any of the course topics. I have a nutrition certificate and under the scope and guidance of the department head.
• Cooking Club
  • Like a book club, I would like to in the future start a cooking club where I post recipes to social media and I invite and challenge participants to make the recipe and post a video or photo of them cooking or the finished product. This is a fun way of staying connected and active. This is just in the beginning of the planning phase but I want to develop it more.

Check back for updates!